This invention concerns an improved guide means for a flexible element.
There is often a requirement for a versatile means of guiding a flexible element via an indirect path whilst ensuring that the element is adequately protected from snagging or catching on adjacent members. Ideally the element should also be concealed from view by any such guide means in an elegant manner.
A particular example of such a requirement can be found in the context of a vehicle seat for a passenger vehicle such as a minibus, where, unlike the automobile, the seat belt cannot be mounted to a pillar forming a structural member of the vehicle body. In this case the seat belt must be supported from the seat frame itself and there is a need to guide a retractable seat belt through the seat from the shoulder level of the occupant to a seat belt mounting which is generally located at floor level behind the seat. If the seat belt is to be adequately protected from snagging over the path from the shoulder of the occupant of the seat to the anchorage of the reel mechanism for storage of the belt the seat must be provided with a suitable guide means for containing the belt. This has hitherto proved difficult to achieve in a construction that is both elegant and which allows the belt to be guided through the upholstery of the seat in such a manner that replacement of the seat belt mechanism can be effected when necessary without major reconstruction of the seat.
There are other requirements for the guidance of flexible members such as actuating cables where it may be necessary to insert the flexible member through a guide means the cross-section of the effective guide passage of which is smaller than the dimension of fittings attached to the flexible member. The arrangement according to the invention, although described below in the context of a seat belt fitting, should therefore be understood as having more general application.
According to one aspect of the invention there is provided a guide assembly for a flexible element comprising a mounting member providing an aperture extending along an axis, said mounting member being adapted to be supported from a structural member with respect to which the flexible element is to be guided, and an escutcheon means for trimming an orifice through which the flexible member is to pass, the escutcheon means being adapted to be received and retained in the said aperture of the mounting member to provide a guide aperture for the flexible member extending coaxially with the aperture in the mounting member, the mounting member being divided in such a manner that the said flexible element can be inserted into the aperture therein, in a direction transversely to said axis, the escutcheon means also being divided for insertion of the flexible member therein when disassembled from the mounting member, and the arrangement being such that surfaces defining the division in the escutcheon means are held in engagement with one another when the escutcheon means is received in the said aperture of the mounting member.
Advantageously the guide assembly further includes a divided conduit means into which the flexible member can also be inserted transversely to an elongate passage extending through the conduit means. Such a conduit means may be mounted with its elongate axis at an angle, for example a right angle to the said axis of the mounting member so that the flexible member can be guided along an angular path.
When the guide assembly is to guide the web of a seat belt the said apertures and passageway will be of rectangular cross-section, but other configurations may be adopted in accordance with the cross-section of the element to be guided.
Conveniently the mounting member may be formed of pressed sheet metal, whereas the escutcheon member may be moulded from one or more portions of synthetic plastics material, and the conduit means may be formed from one or more sections of extruded synthetic plastics material.
Further preferred features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the accompanying drawings, in which: